Alan Davie

(1920-2014)

Alan Davie was a Scottish artist whose work played a vital role in the development of post-war abstraction in Britain. Working across painting, printmaking, sculpture, and music, his practice was characterised by spontaneity, symbolism, and a deep engagement with myth, ritual, and non-Western philosophies. Born in Grangemouth, Scotland, Davie studied at Edinburgh College of Art before serving in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. After the war he emerged as a leading figure in British abstract painting, strongly influenced by American Abstract Expressionism, particularly the work of Jackson Pollock. Davie’s paintings are marked by bold colour, gestural mark-making, and layered imagery, often incorporating signs, symbols, and references to ancient and spiritual traditions. Alongside painting, Davie worked extensively in printmaking, producing graphic works that reflect the same improvisatory energy and symbolic density found in his canvases. He worked with the Curwen Press on lithographic projects, where his expressive visual language was translated into print. Davie exhibited widely throughout his career, including at the Venice Biennale, and his work is held in major public collections worldwide. He is regarded as one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century, whose work bridged European and American approaches to abstraction.